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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

HAITI PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS FLAWED

(CNN) -- A much-awaited review of Haiti's disputed presidential election made public on Tuesday suggests the government-backed candidate should be eliminated from contention. The review, completed by an Organization of American States monitoring team, has not yet been delivered to Haitian authorities and won't likely be in the hands of President Rene Preval until after Wednesday, the first anniversary of the devastating 2010 earthquake.
But the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research posted a leaked copy of the report on its website, slamming it as a sham.

"This report can't salvage an election that was illegitimate, where nearly three-quarters of the electorate didn't vote, and where the vote count of the minority that did vote was severely compromised," said Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the center.

Colin Granderson, head of the OAS mission in Haiti, said he would not comment on the election report until the Haitian government has been informed.

"I am still going by the terms of reference which prevent me from speaking publicly about the report and its context," he said. "We don't have a fixed appointment as of yet. That is what we are awaiting at this moment."

The center said it analyzed 11,181 tally sheets from the November 28 vote and found the election seriously flawed. It said the OAS report cannot help determine the outcome of the first round of Haiti's election.
Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council released preliminary results in early December that gave former first lady Mirlande Manigat a win with 31.4% of the vote. Jude Celestin, Preval's handpicked successor, came in second with 22.3% while popular musician Michel Martelly was third with 21.8%.
The OAS review said in actuality, Martelly had won 22.2% of the vote to Celestin's 21.9%, affording Martelly a spot in a runoff election with Manigat.